Yesterday I was at a local interest group meeting of the NeuroLeadership Institute, listening to a presentation by NLI founder David Rock.
He was talking about learning and memory, and the simple yet powerful image of memory as a big neural net of connections, so that the bigger we make the net, eg by activating neurons in many different parts of the brain at the same time, the easier it is to access it. As part of his talk he explained his acronym for effectiveness in establishing the net - particularly when imparting learning re knowledge, ideas, concepts etc. The acronym is AGES, which stands for Attention, Generation, Emotion, and Separation.
I found the most interesting one to reflect on was Generation, which is about doing something immediately to create personal meaning out of what you have just heard or read. All good teachers know this from experience, but the research shows it is even more important than we think. For example, if immediately after explaining an idea, you ask people to tell you (or their neighbour) when and how they could apply it to a real-life situation, it makes it much more likely that the idea will stick. If they don't, it probably won't. It's worth taking a minute now to think about when you do and don't do this, and how you might do it more effectively, ie in a way which creates the biggest net.
Using acronyms can itself be a mini-application of AGES - but only if they are your own. Making up an acronym is pure Generation. It requires quite a lot of effort (high Attention), there is a sense of triumph on finding a good one - especially if this is preceded by a period of frustration when you can't see it (negative switching to positive Emotion). And I often return to think about it / play with it several times over a period of a week (Separation). It's rare, therefore, that I forget my own acronyms!
But what do you do when someone gives you an acronym? What I always do is try to modify it to make it my own. Instead of AGES, I remember SAGE, which for me links to knowledge and wisdom. And instead of Rock's SCARF for his social threat model, I remember SCARE, which obviously links to threat - simply replacing his F for Fairness with E for Equity. And for his four conditions for allowing insight I remember QUIET PINT, standing for Quiet, slightly Positive, Internally focused, and Not Trying - again the link is obvious!
So I offer you SAGE, SCARE and QUIET PINT... but with some sadness recommend you don't use them. Try to make up your own!
